Our Process

OUR PROCESS

At Creative Habitats, we understand that deciding to overhaul your outdoor space can be daunting. That’s why our designers work with you every step of the way to ensure a smooth, enjoyable process.

Once you decide to enhance your outdoor space with Creative Habitats, one of our talented designers will meet with you at your home to evaluate your space and its uses. We’ll talk with you about your vision for the space and how it will fit into your lifestyle.

Some of the questions we may ask you include:

How do you envision using this space?

What do you do outside?

How much time do you spend outside? Would you like to spend more time outside?

Do you have children who will be playing outside?

Do you have pets?

Will you maintain the space yourself or hire a company to do so, or are you looking for a more hands-off space?

Do you need drainage solutions?

Our goal from this initial meeting is to understand how you live in your space so that we can create a plan customized especially for you. We’ll walk through your outdoor space and discuss how you plan to use it and all the pieces that help make an outdoor space welcoming – plants and patio surfacing, for starters – so that we can understand your likes and dislikes. Once we have walked your property and talked through how you’ll use the space, our designers will typically draw a landscaping plan tailored especially to you, detailing plant types, hardscape materials, irrigation and more.

Many times, we find that homeowners love the full plan we put together, but want to complete it in stages, either due to budget concerns or seasonal issues. We are happy to create a “phasing in” master plan to accommodate your needs. With this plan, all aspects of your new space will be installed over time, whether over the course of a couple of seasons, years, or whenever your budget allows. Our designers will recommend each phase and give you a pricing estimate, so you can be sure each piece fits within your budget.

PINTEREST & HOUZZ

We’re often asked if it’s helpful for homeowners to set up Pinterest or Houzz accounts to collect ideas. Yes! We encourage you to gather inspiration images however you prefer, whether that’s through Pinterest boards, Houzz Ideabooks or good old-fashioned magazine clippings. As they say, “a picture paints a thousand words,” and the more inspiration photos you have, the better an idea we can get of your style and taste.

ESTIMATES

At Creative Habitats, it’s important to us that you know exactly what you’re getting for your investment up front. That’s why we create estimates that clearly broken down into plant type, size and quantity with installed cost, including material and labor.

If the estimate we present is greater than your budget will allow, please communicate this with us – we have numerous ways we can work with you to accommodate your budget.

For example, if our estimate includes ten 30-gallon live oak tree for $4,000, but that’s more than your budget can accommodate, we can adjust it to include ten 15-gallon live oaks, which would be $2,000 – a 50% savings.